“Consider two scenarios,” says Richard Larson, a professor of engineering systems at MIT who has studied queuing. In the first, the pilot guesses that a delay will last 15 minutes, and it takes 30—customers will end up stewing in their seats. In the second, the pilot apologizes and says the delay may be as long as 45 minutes, and it takes 30—people will feel like they “saved” 15 minutes in the end. “Same situation, [the] only difference is the managed expectations,” Larson says. That’s why Disney, for example, makes a point of overestimating wait times at its amusement parks. By the time guests strap in for a ride, they feel the warmth of exceeded expectations.
